Commissioned Pet Portraits in Progress and Studio News

Ask The Artist!

Categories

Latest FAQ

How much does a portrait cost?

This is a question I get very often. The price depends on your choices and can vary quite allot. First you have a choice between detailed or painterly styles. The Painterly styled portraits are much more affordable than the detailed. The reason for the price difference is obviously because of how many hours it takes to create a portrait. Second, the price also depends on which medium you and size you choose. The mediums available are oil, pastel , pencil & conté crayon. View my complete price list here »

Will the portrait be signed by you?

Of course it will! It's the part I'm waiting for the entire painting process and it's the moment I have decided that the piece is completed. All original artworks are and should be signed by the artist who painted it. All my clients also receives a Certificate of originality along with their portrait, which is also signed and dated by me.

How do I find out exactly how much my portrait will cost on your Price list?

First, you can choose to view the prices your currency. My base prices are in SEK, Swedish krona. The Price page is divided into three tabs. You have a choice between three painting techniques ( mediums ) and those are: Oil, Pastel and Pencil. When you choose your preferred painting medium you will find information about my prices for that particular painting technique ( medium ).

In the Price Table you have the sizes in cm and inch to the left and the prices for both Detailed and Sketchy Portraits to the right. In next table below you have information about additional charges for things like Extra Studies ( more than one subject on the same painting/ drawing ), Scenic Backgrounds and Montages.

Even though you are not in a Ordering process right now, you can still play with the 50% deposit payment ordering tables to see exactly how much your portrait will cost. The only thing you need to do is follow the numbers, read the information and make your choices.

Hope this helps...

You have made a fantastic drawing from shelties, a collage with obedience sheltieIs it possible to buy a copy of this collage?

Hello,

Almost all portraits I have on my website are private commissions with my clients own pets, it wouldn't feel right to sell those as Prints. So unfortunately no one can to buy a copy. You are however welcome to commission a collage with your own photos.

What perfect drawings you make. Please can you tell me how much a portrait costs, with four dogheads?

I don't charge for extra studies, only size and medium of your choice. Please check out my complete price-list.

What do you use to blend with? Fingers? Tortillions?

In the beginning of the process, when I start to block in the big areas I'm using two slanted pastel blenders. The brushes are in size 2 and 12 from Da Vinci. At a later stage, when there is much paint on the paper I use my fingers only. I have tried allot of different blenders, but somehow I always end up in using my fingers as that feels most natural to me.

What kind of oil do you use, for the sketching the subject on the canvas? I meen that brown colored sketch...is that an oil or something else?

The oil color brand I use is Winsor & Newton Artists. The "brown" color I'm sometimes using to sketch up the subjects with is Burnt Sienna. But you can use what ever color you are comfortable with, like Raw Umber or Ivory black. I use Ivory black quite allot too. You can also combine colors for sketches, like Raw Umber and Ivory black. The colors are mixed with allot of Turpentine.

How did you get started with your career as portrait painter? I've noticed how difficult it is to to do a career as an artist here in Norway, so was wondering how you went through to get where you are today. :)

When I started out to paint professionally I didn't have a clue what was waiting around the corner. When thinking back, I'm wondering why my hair isn't grey yet! My opinion is that I'm still not where I would like to be and I know I still have a long way to go. A big failure I did was to go internationally right away, everyone should start to get known locally first.

To do a career as an artist of any kind is very difficult, no matter in which country you are located. As a matter of fact, living in nordic countries as I do myself makes it a bit easier. Why do I think that? Well, it's because there is no big competition among portrait artists, especially when it comes to creating portraits of pets. A big problem is that people here don't trust anyone, which makes it hard to sell services online. One other issue is that people don't even think about searching for something like pet portraits in search engines. To sell services, we have to market ourselves offline in order to make them visit us online.

It takes around 10 years of very hard work for a artist to "make it". By that I don't only mean painting or pursuing better painting skills. I mean working hard with marketing and creating a SEO friendly website. The only thing I have had time to do so far is creating a website which can be found in major Search engines, and that's since 2006 when I decided to paint portraits professionally. All commissions I get right now is through my website only. What I will do next when it comes to marketing is a big question, I do have many ideas but didn't try anything out just yet.

How did you create this website?!

I used to work as a web designer professionally, so I created my website from scratch. This means; first I created the design exactly how I wanted the website to look in Photoshop, a PSD image in many layers. After that I puzzled the site together in HTML and CSS. I used Dreamweaver to help me out with the visual as I'm working, but I'm also doing allot of coding myself because I want it to be clean. I'm using div tags for the website template because it loads faster than tables do.

The "Work in Progress" Blog (wordpress) have the same template (theme) and is also done by myself. I'm very fastidious when it comes to design and I want everything to look exactly how I imagined it to be. One pixel wrong, could make me stay up at night :). That's probably not normal, I know...

I'm also using some coding made by others on the website, things like the slider on top of each page. That one I'm using is called Nivo slider and can be edited to suit your needs. More about my website can be read about here : new website 2011

Why do you use oil paint?

That is a good question! I love oil paint and it's my favorite medium next to pastel. Oil is also a very popular medium among art lovers and buyers, simply one of the easiest mediums to sell. Oil was frequently used by the old masters who created all beautiful masterpieces, many artists both admire and study old masterpieces.

I love to paint with oil because of what can be achieved with it, but also because of the buttery feel the paint has. It takes some time for the oil paint to dry which is great when I want to keep the paint "open" and I don't have to worry about if it's too dry the next day or not. Oil is also a great medium for painting in many layers and that is the painting technique I use.

I was wondering if you would mind sharing your workflow throughout one of your animal pastel paintings. Also, do you offer any tutorials online or for sale?

Actually I have been thinking about writing a simple pastel tutorial and add it to my Art Article section soon. I'm going to do that as I'm painting the next dog portrait. Unfortunately I don't have any tutorials for sale yet.

Is there another paper/card that you would recomend for someone starting out using pastel pencils?

I wouldn't recommend any other paper than UART for detailed work and Sennelier for sketches. There are two other sanded papers that I know of; Wallis and Fisher 400. For a start you can try a hight quality Fine Art velour paper like Hahnemuhle. My first and only portrait created on velour paper is the papillion pet portrait. It's a great looking portrait, but it was very hard to achieve what I wanted on that paper. I buy my art supplies online too ( some of them ), since they don't sell all supplies I need here in Sweden.

How do you achieve the depth to fur and does each layer get progressively lighter or darker?

Painting fur: It is not the stroke that makes a hair, it is the dark color around it. First you have to create depth and a good base, then paint both dark and light strokes in order to make the fur look realistic. After this is done, you will probably need to go through the same process in several layers.

Painting layers: In oil you need to work from dark to light. This doesn't mean you can't add darker colors with each layer, it is something you still need to do in order to create depth. The tiniest details at the end of the painting process are usually the lightest ones. The first layers can cover the previous one, but as you are progressing and the painting is starting to take it's shape, you can't cover everything you have done before. Only add the details and colors you need. Always work from thin to thick paint when painting with oils.

I do have a tutorial written on my website. A step by step guide about how I paint a German Shepherd. Read the oil painting tutorial here >

I just wondered if you have any tips for creating fur with lots of depth in pencil? What techniques can I use to make realistic fur? Does the kind of paper make a difference?

When drawing detailed I usually use a method called negative drawing. First I'm drawing the darkest areas, leaving the lightest out and then drawing all the values in between. That method is preferred by many pencil artists.

The paper makes a big difference. The choice of paper is individual and the only way to know which paper suits you best, is to try it out. The paper should be thick and really white for graphite work in my opinion. I use the Fabriano 5 for my pencil drawings, both sketchy and detailed portraits.

How do you get your brush strokes to stay so thin when you paint the fur on the pets? Also how do you make very thin lines in pencil?

When I paint fur I use a flat or rounded small brush, usually nr. 0 - 2 depending which kind of brand it is. To make thin lines with a brush I use Turpentine or Linseed oil mixed with the colors. In order to make thin lines with a pencil it needs to be very sharp. The secret is always in the brush or pencil tip...

I am confused, in another part you say you use linseed oil, but here you say no. Please help. Thanks.

That's probably because I didn't use linseed oil before, but now I do. I use the drying linseed oil, making sure to use 50% oil mixed med 50% Turpentine, plus paint naturally. If you use too much oil, it will be very hard to paint more more layers over the previous one. Start by using only Turpentine mixed with paint and add linseed oil later on. With oil you need to paint thick over thin and not the other way around.

Could you please tell me how long you would leave a finished oil painting before varnishing it?

I would leave it for 6 months, since an expert told me to wait that long. I know many artists varnish their paintings long before that, but I don't. I would wait at least one month, so I never varnish my paintings before I send them to my clients.

How do you do to draw the first lines of the portrait? To obtain the perfect proportions?

Sometimes I do it freehand, measure the angles from a distance with a pencil at the same time as I squint with my eyes. This is however a very time-consuming method and requires many years of experience. I find it hard to do it freehand for that particular subject, I then prefer to use the grid method. You can find allot of information on the Internet about how to use the grid method.

Do you have a tutorial about painting pencil human portraits (with hair desirably)? Thank you for your attention.

No, I still don't have my tutorials ready. I will try to find time to write more tutorials over the summer.

When painting in layers, how do you apply paint over dry layer? Do you coat the canvas with any medium before applying?

No I don't do that, but many artists do. I prefer to keep the dry layer beneath dry when I apply new color. However some artists first apply the entire dried layer with Linseed oil and then dry it up with a rag before starting up the next layer. Just experiment and see which method suits you best.

I would love to see you make a couple of instructional DVD's...maybe a basic and then a advanced one and perhaps one for pets and one for humans...Is that a possiblity?

Oh, so many fellow artists has asked me that. As soon as I will have some spare time I will create at least some Tutorials. That will have to wait until I feel I am ready for it.

Is it very difficult and have you had any problems mounting the paper? I know it needs to be done for preservation and appearance, but am uncertain.

The only problem I have had is that I created mounts in the wrong size and that was of course very frustrating! But no, I have not yet ruined a portrait with a mount. If you are uncertain about that, why not have framer do the job for you? Even though I'm able to create my own mounts, I regularly pay someone else to do it and use my own time for painting.

What would you recommend to use to fix your pastel work. I have used fixative but find it dulls the colour slightly and now use hairspray. What is your preference?

I never use any fixative for pastel work, so I can't give you any advice on that. I wouldn't recommend it at all, to anyone. The only thing that preserves a pastel is proper framing in my opinion.

How do you get such a soft beautiful blend on your pencil drawings, for example on the Malamute?

First I draw on the desired area with a soft pencil grade, like 4B, 5B or 6B. Then I use a soft rag /old sock or brush to blend, that's all. I keep on doing this until it's perfect.

My favorite pencil is 2B, which I can draw both light and dark strokes with. I also love to use 5B for very dark shadows. I use H or HB for very light strokes too. So I use H, HB, 2B and 5B most of the time for my drawings.

When it comes to paper, you will have to test which one you prefer. I use Fabriano Artistico extra white watercolor paper for my detailed portraits nowadays.

When applying layers in oils, is there a limit to how many layers you can do? Do you have to plan how many layers in advance?

No, I don't plan on how many layers I have to apply to a detailed oil painting. I just keep on painting until I think the artwork is completed. I don't normally apply more than three or four layers though and I don't cover the entire painting with each layer, just where there is work needed.

I always paint with my next layer in mind and that is the only thing I plan. Naturally if I don't like my previous layer I just paint it over with new colors, but that is not something I regulatory need to do nowadays since I mix all my colors before I start out. I don't use much linseed oil, so I tend to use more turpentine than oil. I don't like how dark colors shine when dried because of the oil.

Some old masters where painting allot more layers. I think Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci was painted in 50 layers or so, but that technique was slightly different from mine. Also, I don't think any client would pay for that many hours of work after all, at least not my clients.

I have my first portrait to paint but how on earth do I price it up? I don't how it's going to turn out etc.

After you compared your artwork to others, checked out which prices they have and decided upon your own prices. Just tell the price and start working. Keep on working until you are satisfied. If you love it, the client will probably love it too. If something goes wrong, simply start over.

If a client don't like your work, simply give the money back and keep the painting or drawing for yourself. This has never happened to me, but that is what I would do. To price your own work can be a hard task, but you need to start somewhere.

Could you give me any tips on how you achieve your lovely subtle backgrounds please?

I don't know if you mean oil or pastel, the approach a bit different depending on which medium. I love to use warm or earth tones most of the time, trying to create the background less important then the subject. I always try to mix colors and blend them onto the paper on canvas until I get the right colors and light. When painting in oil, I like paint in layers. This way I can achieve great depth and softness. I use a large brush to blend oil paint sometimes. When painting with pastel, I also build layers, blocking in dark tones first and then add light colors over the previous layers and then blend. It's hard to explain really...

Just wondering, your pencil work (actually all your work) is incredible. Will you be doing a pencil tutorial at some stage?

No I don't think I will, at least not in near future. I will only work on Pastel Tutorials for now.

Katja, your work is beautiful, can i please ask how you get such softness in the fur using oil?, when I try to blend I end up with such a muddy mess that I have to start all over again only to end up in the same situation, also if i glaze to get depth i seem to lose all brushstrokes, my high lights also look "added on" and not part of the fur any tips would be most gratefully recieved.

As I don't know how you work with oil, it is hard for me to answer your question. It is a quite different approach depending on if you paint in layers (like I do) or if you paint "alla prima" (wet in wet). I need to know this before I can answer.

In working with pastels, you've mentioned that you don't preserve the final painting with fixative. I myself have seen the perils of using fixative(color gone awry, etc), but was wondering if you also never spray your work with similar medium, in between layers, for keeping things from muddying up? I've found that I need to do this, as my use of pastels is very new, and haven't the skill to blend without fixing as I go along.

As I work on sanded paper, I don't feel that I need to use any fixative between layers either, so the answer to you question is: no, I don't. I have heard of many artists that do use fixative between layers though and if you feel that you need to, why not?

I see that you mix your paint with some turpentine and a small amount of drying linseed, but can you clarify the fat over lean process for me please. Do you increase the amount of oil or the amount of paint in the mixture as you do more layers? Also, wondering if you oil out the background to give it that sheen you see in your photos?

I start by using only turpentine mixed with oil paint, just like I would be painting with watercolor. After that I start adding thicker and thicker paint, this means that after your start mixing in oil mediums, the paint is as fat as it can get. I don't mix my paints with any oil medium on my first layers. Now I use Walnut oil instead of Linseed as it dries slower and doesn't shine that much when it's dry. Yes, I oil-out all my paintings with a very thin layer of Walnut oil, but this only brings out dark or vibrant colors as I don't like them to shine too much.

I have often had to turn away commissions due to really small photographs being supplied by the client, where I am unable to take photos myself. Other times the photos are too small for the size they request (2 inch photo for a 12ins portrait!) or the pets are blurred or red eye. How do you deal with this politely please? Sometimes they are unable to afford good pics and it is so sad to see their disappointment, but I have to as I know I would not do justice to their payment or pet.

I often get very small and blurry photos as well, which I'm unable to work from. This is very frustrating indeed! If the photo they sent is the only photo they have and the pet has passed, there is not much more you can do but to turn down their commission. I always explain why I can't work from their photo / photos and ask politely if they happen to have any more photos.

I also give them a link to my article about how to photograph pets for portraits and ask if they have any possibility to take new photos of their pet. This is the only thing you can do unfortunately. Most photos provided by clients are not the best you can find and when that happens, I'm a very happy artist:). Not many clients send photos taken by a professional photographer.